Minor Art Deco style, Wallace Street, Dumbarton:-

I can’t ever have walked down Wallace Street before as I don’t remember seeing this building until this visit in April.

Doorway detail:-

I had seen this one many times: the former Co-op on the corner of Greenhead and Glasgow Roads. The date above the lintel is 1922, a bit early for true deco:-

We also took a stroll along the quay in the town and spotted this children’s slide (chute) in the shape of an elephant, with a wooden play elephant behind. An elephant appears on the crest of the town and of the mighty Sons, Dumbarton FC. It’s a nice nod to that heritage to have these play objects reflect it:-

This one was too long for me to be able to fit into one photo. It still houses the Co-operative Bank, but also when we visited a Peacock’s and a Poundland.

Central portion detail. Rule of three in the windows plus other Deco hallmarks:-

Stitch of two photos to get whole building in:-

Last year we visited Dalbeattie in Dumfries and Galloway.

I was surprised when we got there to find the buildings are mostly made of granite but it turned out there was a granite quarry very close by so naturally the locals made full use of it back in the day.

In fact the B&B we stayed in – the best such we have ever been in – was right beside the now disused quarry.

I also wasn’t expecting Art Deco, but it’s there.

T H Carson Butcher. It’s really only the stepped roof-line here:-

Then there was the Co-op. Full deco style:-

Roof-line detail.

More likely 1960s?:-

Former bank. Possible deco style round the doors:-

Garage/car sale room. Stepped roof-line, but windows’ “eyes” poked out:-

Former Picture House, Dalbeattie, now Bryan Gowan’s Furniture Store. Horizontals, verticals, stepped roof-line. Rule of three above window over the doors. Shame about the replaced windows.

Photographs of the cinema as it appeared in 1985 are here on the Scottish Cinemas website. It still had the original windows, then. Much more appropriate looking.

Side View:-

I found two Art Deco styled buildings in Kirkcudbright. There was one I didn’t though. I’ll save that for a later post.

Here are the two I found.

First the Co-op:-

The former Post Office:

Detail:-

We spent the first night back in Britain in Harwich and in the morning had a stroll into Dovercourt which is cheek by jowl with Harwich but whereas Harwich is on the southern bank of the River Stour opposite Felixstowe, Dovercourt lies to Harwich’s south and lines up NNE to SSW (pointing ESE) where Harwich is more E to W (pointing N.)

These 1930s houses hinted at Art Deco.

We walked on towards the town centre past this building which looked as if it might have once been a garage but I have since discovered was the Regent Cinema. Strong horizontals, delicate upper window.

At the bottom of a slight hill there was a football ground, the home of Harwich and Parkeston FC. The sign says Ridgeon’s Football League but the Wiki article says they’re in the Essex and Suffolk Border League and also illustrates that the club has seen better times than at present. The ground is the Royal Oak Ground. Good stepped Art Deco styling to the entrance here.

There’s a photo of the club’s stand here.

In the town itself was what was in its prime surely a Woolworths.

This was up a side street. Minor deco but definitely has it in the roofline. I’d like to have seen the original windows.

Almost next door was a defunct? bingo hall (also once a cinema?) It was morning so I couldn’t tell if the restaurant on the ground floor is still a going concern.

Up another side street I found an old Co-op. This has all the hallmarks of deco but again has seen better days. There’s something drastic has occurred to the building. The facade is distinctly bent – focused on the rightward central pillar.

I’ve posted previously about the sad demolition of Leslie’s Art Deco Cinema.

There are still some thirties-style buildings around, though.

This is the former Co-op. It’s not really bent; this is a stitch of two photos to get it all in.

This is what the two separate photos looked like:-

The marble round the centre door would have looked impressive in its day but it’s a bit tired now.

The former cafe on the corner here has more than a hint of Deco in the rounded element and the detailing above the door.

This isn’t deco but the columns either side of the windows prefigure the style. It’s opposite the Green and is the Old Parish Church Hall:-

There isn’t much to do at Mallaig – or Malaig as the signs have it. (It seems a bit pointless to have the name repeated only without an “l” but bilinguality seems to be important once you get to Crianlarich – or A’ Chrìon Làraich if you prefer.)

Mallaig’s raison d’être was herring fishing. That’s why the railway was run into there in the first place. I can remember the fish trains rumbling past my boyhood home in the wee hours. Now the herring fishing has gone but I believe prawns have taken their place, shipped all over Europe – by lorry.

Mind you I did buy a book. There’s a building directly opposite the station which among other things houses a second hand bookshop. There is a “first hand” bookshop further into the town but it had mostly touristy books.

There were the expected tourist outlets and several cafes and restaurants, some of which doubled up as chippies, plus a Co-op.

We had nearly two hours to kill though.

The Marine Hotel is just across the access road to the station. I leave you to decide if it’s Deco or not:-

We wandered round the coast road a bit. This is a panorama of the harbour from the other side of the bay. (To get to the larger version on my flickr click on the picture):-

Walking back into the village I saw this intriguing building on the harbour entrance. This side is a fishselling business:-

The building is quite big. The other side is/was a cafe and a ship chandler’s. The cafe bit was closed so may be defunct.

Not content with three business premises the side facing the harbour provides shipping services:-

This is a panorama of the other side of the bay from the harbour entrance:-

The harbour mouth:-

You can just see a fisherman’s statue in the above. Beyond where I took the next one was permitted personnel only so I took this long shot:-

That was Mallaig.

I don’t know how I missed this before, I suppose I was so used to it I never looked properly. The picture is a stitch of two to get it all in. I took them after the game against the Shire last Sunday. We took a turn along the High Street and I gazed up at the Co-Op building and noticed its date; DECS 1938. This building was where the linen, drapery, furniture and clothing depts were. It had those pneumatic pipes for sending your cash off to the central office where all the money was dealt with. The food department was (and still is) a bit further along the High Street. Strangely, there the money was handled at the till by the assistants.

(For anyone who doesn’t know, DECS stands for Dumbarton Equitable Co-Operative Society and the elephant is on Dumbarton’s town crest.)

I’ve got one more photo of the Co-Op on flickr.

I can still remember my mother’s Co-Op dividend number…..